If you watched the trailer of Malaysian filmmaker Jacky Yeap's first feature film, Sometime, Sometime (一时一时的) which had its world premiere at last year's Shanghai International Film Festival, you cannot miss filmmaker and Founder of DaHuang Pictures Tan Chui Mui in it, playing quite a significant role. Indeed, she has a very special role in the film. In fact, the pairing of filmmaker Jacky Yeap who plays the son and Tan Chui Mui who plays the mother carries more significance than meets the eye. Jacky, who is almost 30 years-old, plays Zi Kian, an awkward teenager who has a disturbing obsession with his mother and somehow, halfway through the film, we feel like we are watching Jacky as well in many self-reflexive moments. Jacky, who currently works in DaHuang Pictures opens up about the character, his approach to the role and Tan Chui Mui. 

What attracted you to work on a story like Sometime, Sometime, and how did production on the film begin?

One afternoon in 2018, Tan Chui Mui who is my boss suddenly asked me how old I was. I said 27 and she said ‘it's time to make another film’. At that time, she knew that I had two scripts on hand, one called Getting your attention, which is a story about a film director, which had a more artistic and complex story structure, and the other called Falling in Love Again, which was a story about three men of different ages falling in love with the same woman, which was effectively the longer version of my 2017 short film with the same title. Chui Mui felt Falling in Love Again was more suitable for me to make at that stage, so we started making this film. Later on, on second thought, I felt the story might be a little too unreal as I think I gave myself too much freedom in the story idea. So I decided to make some adjustments to the story to make it closer to my experience and more realistic and this final version of Sometime , Sometime was created in this way.

This story is related to my own background, and my experience growing up. My mother passed away when I was 5 years old and I lived with my father and two brothers. So, when I was growing up, there was no female figure around me, but I didn't care. From the time of my university to the time I started working in Tan Chui Mui's DaHuang Pictures company after graduation, I found that my heart was subconsciously in need of a mother, and over time this need became more and more conscious. This is also reflected in the changes in my relationship with Tan Chu Mui over the years. We went from being boss and employee, to becoming like a family, and there were many days we argued. And this feeling is very special and new to me, just like how a mother treats a son. At that time, I felt a special impact from this relationship and it affected me a lot. I wanted to quickly record this relationship through this medium (cinema) which can preserve the moment in visuals and sound, for I knew that this was a make-believe relationship, we will never have the real thing. Therefore, there are many daily routines played out in the movie that may be boring or ordinary to the audience. But for me, it was my chance to experience a mother-child relationship, even though I was already in my 20s. Therefore, Sometime, Sometime is a projection of my mother-child relationship.

In fact, every piece of dialogue in the movie is written in the script, with only a few adjustments made on set. The reason why the audience feels like they are watching actors being spontaneous is that I have been observing myself and people around me. I like to observe people around me, like my boss, friends, long-term working partners, etc. I find them all interesting, the way of they speak, the actions, etc. However, often when I watch a movie, the people in the movie speak very in a standard style and the sentences are perfect. I feel that while this is well presented, but it is not good for this movie. The story of this movie and my purpose of making this movie (as answered in the first question) should try to restore what we see and hear in the real world, more specifically, what I see and hear,

As for the story, if I want to be a bit more self-indulgent, maybe I will shoot the trivial things in daily life, there will be no story, more like a documentary. But nevertheless, this is a feature film, and it still needs a story to support this movie as a skeleton. So using the content that I already have, I created two outsiders in the life of the mother and son, one being the mother’s boyfriend, from which we witness the jealousy of the son, and the other being the son’s classmate, which is the object of his affection. I think everyone feels some jealousy, from childhood to growing up, but why do people gradually hide this jealousy after growing up? This is because society 's definition of what it means to be adult has caused us to hide our jealousy. It does not mean that there is no jealousy, but we are just suppressing it. As long as we face our jealousy honestly, and jealousy brings bad things, we can break through the evil feeling of jealousy. Just like the son in the movie, whose jealousy of his mother's boyfriend leads him to show that he doesn't like the man through mischief. However, if it is a 3 to 5 year-old child, he will be openly display his jealousy, unlike adults, who can pretend to be unaffected.

Tan Chui Mui is already my boss. After working together for so long, we have grown to each other enough, so she helped me produce my movie. Basically, my team and I handle most of the problems in the production. Chui Mui doesn't handle many problems in production and only when necessary, will I go and seek her guidance or advice. In addition to being the producer, Chui Mui is also the heroine of the movie. In this movie, her work is more in the interpretation and crafting of the role of mother. Therefore, we had more disagreements in this regard, and in many cases, I would be told off her, haha. For instance, the character of the mother in the movie is modelled after Chui Mui, and I have included a lot of her into the writing. But she doesn't want to play herself in the movie, and hoped that I could focus developing the mother character instead of focussing on her. In the real world, Chui Mui is a very strong, independent person with a lot of gravitas and aura , but in the movie, she is a gentle and fragile woman. This change was made after she read the script.

I am 29 years old now and when this movie was made, I was 27 years old. My character in the movie is 17 to 18 years old. There are several reasons why I had to play this role. Firstly, maybe for others, this is just a movie, but for me, it serves to fill a lost portion of my life, the relationship between mother and son. In other words, I am using cinema to complete myself. Secondly, because I look like a child. Many people who meet me for the first time will think that I am a middle school student. But Chui Mui said that I am getting old, and if I want to act in this role, I must do it quickly, or I will get old, so I can't do the role anymore. So we started shooting as soon as we got enough funds. Finally, it is also important that Chui Mui and I look believable as mother and son. Half a year before the filming started, due to work reasons, Chui Mui and I would often attend events together or go abroad. Those who saw me for the first time would ask Chui Mui: Is this your son? Therefore, I believe that this movie would not be complete without us playing mother and son.

To what extent are the actors (meaning you and Chui Mui) playing a bit of yourself? There was a moment the young girl called you 'Jacky' instead of Zi Kien, so the lines are indeed quite blur.

To some extent we are indeed playing part of ourselves. I think it is impossible for the actors and the characters in the movie to be separated. They influence each other. Before the filming of the film, we let the characters enter their bodies. After the filming, some parts of the characters become us. This is what I believe. As for the scene in the movie in which the supporting actress called out the name "Jacky". For people who don't know me, they might think this is Zi Kien’s English name. But people who know me, this is like me having a conversation with myself through the movie. In fact, this scene was designed to make the audience suddenly awaken to the fact that you are just watching a show. The narrative is all fake. In another instance, in the middle of the movie, when he was eating with his mother, father, father-in-law and mother-in-law in a vegetarian restaurant, his father told him that his movie would be better if he added music. Next thing we know, non-diegetic sound appears in the film.

What is the difference between working on a short film and a feature? Were there any unexpected difficulties that you faced working on a more ambitious and lengthy project?

At the beginning, I was very confident, we were a low-cost production, and the funds were all from subsidies, so there is no pressure. I did make it as a short film, and it was just a relatively long short film. As it was self-directed and self-acted, I am also very confident. Two days after the filming started, my biggest suffering was exhaustion. I found out that acting would consume a lot of mental and physical energy. When the assistant director said cut, I was a little tired and had to watch monitor check playback . After a few times, I started to feel tired and couldn't concentrate on too much work. In the end, I decided to trust my deputy director, because he is a long-term friend of mine, and he also knows me and Chui Mui well, so I basically relied on him for performance, and I just concentrated on acting.

是什么激发了您想出Sometime，Sometime类型的故事? 电影的制作是怎么开始的？

 2018年的一个下午，我和老板陈翠梅在公司油漆，她突然问我今年几岁，我说27，她说，是时候拍电影了。就这样，我们开始制作电影。那时候她知道我手上有两个剧本，一个叫《影人注目》，关于一个电影导演的故事，属于比较花桥的故事结构，另外一部叫《Falling in Love Again》，是一部讲述3个不同年龄层的男人同时爱上同一个女人，算是我2017年拍的短片作品《Falling in Love Again》的长版。老板觉得Falling in Love Again的故事比较适合我现在这个阶段拍，所以我们就开始制作这个故事。过后我想想，那个故事是我天马行空创造出来的，都是虚构的，可能因为这个原因，导致我觉得不踏实，就开始想要做些调整，让故事比较靠近当时的自己，最后就改成了《一时一时的 Sometime，Sometime》这个版本。

 会写这样的一个故事是和我的成长背景有关系。我妈妈在我5岁的时候就过世了，我是和我爸爸和两个哥哥一起生活的。所以，在我的成长，身边是没有一个女人存在过的，但我不以为意。直到我大学毕业后到陈翠梅的大荒电影上班，我发现，我内心想要有个妈妈的渴望从小时候的无意识，慢慢变成越来越有意识。这也包括这些年来，我和陈翠梅的关系的变化，与其说我们像老板和员工，我觉得有时候更像是一家人，整天吵吵闹闹的。而这种感觉对我来说很特别，很新，就像妈妈对待儿子一样。当时候的我对这份感情感到特别的冲击，很影响我，我想赶快透过这种可以把画面和声音保留下来的媒介（电影）把这份感情记录下来，因为我知道，这种关系是假的，我们始终都不会是真的母子，一辈子也不会是。所以，电影里有很多的日常也许对观众来说是无聊，或者普通的。但对我来说，是我在20几岁后才感受过的母子关系。所以，《一时一时的 Sometime，Sometime》是我对母子关系的一种投射。

这片中有很多自发的瞬间，您能分享塑造电影故事情节的过程吗？ 拍摄过程中，会紧跟着剧本吗，还是有很多现场的即兴创作？

其实电影里的每一句对白都是写在剧本里的，只有些许的在现场做调整。至于为什么观众观看的时候会觉得演员好像都是自由发挥，是因为我一直都在观察自己和身边的人。我很喜欢研究我身边喜欢的人，像我的老板，朋友，长期的工作伙伴等，我觉得他们都很有趣，说话的方式，动作等等。但是，每次我看电影的时候，戏里的人说话都很标准，句子都很完美，我感觉那种呈现方式很好，但是对这部电影是不好的。这部电影的故事和我要做这部电影的目的（如第一题所回答的）应该尽可能还原我们现实世界里眼睛所看到和听到的东西，更细的说，是我看到和听到的东西。

至于故事方面，如果自私一些，也许我会都拍琐碎的日常生活，不会有故事，更像是纪录片。但怎么说都好，这是一部剧情片，依然需要一个story来支撑这个电影as一个骨架。所以我就再衍生自己已经有的内容，在这对母子的日常生活，创造出两个外来者，一个是妈妈的男朋友，这可表现儿子的嫉妒，另外一个是儿子的同班同学，也就是他喜欢的对象。我觉得每个人都拥有嫉妒这个个性，从小孩子，到长大，但为什么长大后慢慢越来越少表现嫉妒这个个性呢？这是因为社会对一个成年人的定义，导致我们把这个嫉妒的个性藏了起来，但，这不代表没有，只是我们在压抑。只要我们诚实面对自己的嫉妒，而嫉妒带来不好的东西，我们才有办法突破嫉妒这个恶个性。就像电影里的儿子，因为嫉妒妈妈的男朋友，开始透过作怪来表现不喜欢这个男人。但，如果是一个3-5岁的小孩子，他会直接表现出来，不像大人，会假装喜欢，但其实不喜欢。

您能否谈谈陈翠梅是如何参与这片子的制作，以及您与行内经验丰富的翠梅合作的经验？

陈翠梅本来就是我的老板，经过长期的合作，我们足够认识对方，所以她帮我制片我的电影。基本上陈翠梅并不会控制很多在制作方面的问题，都让我和我的团队去处理，只有在必要时候才会出来指引道路或者我需要她的时候才会提供意见。这是因为陈翠梅除了是制片，同时，她也是电影的女主角。在这部电影里，她比较多参与的是关于如何诠释妈妈这个角色，因此，我们之间在这方面就有了比较多的冲突，而很多时候，我都会被她说法，哈哈。如电影里妈妈这个角色的原型是陈翠梅，我把她在现实世界的样子，写进去。但她不想在电影里演自己，希望我还是可以专注电影里妈妈这个角色，而不是陈翠梅这个人。现实世界里，陈翠梅是一个很有气质，强势，自主，有aura的一个人，但电影里，她是一个温柔既脆弱的女人。这样的改变是她在读了剧本后，对里头单亲妈妈的一种设计。

您如何对待扮演Zi Kien的角色？ 另外，考虑到角色和自己之间的年龄差异，您是否曾感到扮演角色时有任何脱节或困难之处？ （顺便问下你今年几岁）

我今年29岁，拍这部电影的时候是27岁，电影里扮演角色的年龄是17-18岁。有几个原因导致我必须饰演这个角色。第一，也许对别人来说，这只是一部电影，但对我来说，它是填补我生命中失去的那一段生活，母亲和儿子的关系。换句话说，我利用电影，来完整我自己。第二，因为我的样子长得比较稚气，这不是我说的，而是现实生活中，那些第一次见到我的人都会以为我是中学生。但陈翠梅说我老了，如果要演，就要赶快拍，不然会越来越老，就不能演了，所以我们一凑到足够的资金，就马上开拍。最后，这也很重要，就是我和陈翠梅，这两个人是否带给别人一种母子的形象。电影开拍前半年，因为工作关系，我和陈翠梅常常会一起出席活动或者出国，那些第一次见到我的人，都会问陈翠梅：这是你儿子吗？所以，我相信，让我们两个来演，才是这部电影的完整。

演员（就是指您和陳翠梅）在多大程度上在扮演自己呢？ 记得有一幕，那位小女生把你叫成“ Jacky”，而不是Zi Kien。

某种程度上我们确实在扮演着自己的一部分。我觉得演员和电影里的角色是不可能分开的，互相影响着，电影开拍前，我们让角色进入自己的身体，电影拍摄完毕后，角色的某些部分成为了现实的我们，这是我相信的东西。至于电影有一场戏是女配角喊了“Jacky”这个名字。对不认识我的人来说，也许会认为这是陈子健的英文名字。但认识我的人，就知道，或者隐隐约约可以察觉到，这是一种我对我自己的电影的一种回应，自己和自己说话的感觉。选择设计这场戏是因为我想让观众跳出来，其实，你们只是在看戏，这些都是假的。其实不只是这场有“导演”的出现。在电影的中段，他和母亲，爸爸，公公婆婆在素食馆的聚会。爸爸对儿子说，如果他用手机拍的影片可以加音乐应该会更好。接下来，电影就出现了Non-diegetic sound。

制作短片和长片有什么区别？ 制作长片的过程毕竟比较有挑战性，你在过程中有遇到什么意料之外的困难呢？

一开始我很有自信，加上我们是低成本制作，资金都是来自辅助金，所以没有压力。我确实把它当作短片来制作，这只是一部比较长的短片罢了。加上自导自演，也非常有自信。电影开拍两天后，面对最大的苦难是疲惫。我发现原来演戏的时候会消耗很多精神和体力，当副导演喊cut后，些许疲惫的我必须去看monitor check playback，几次后，我开始感到累了，无法专注太多岗位。最后，我决定相信我的副导演，因为他是我长期合作的朋友，也很了解我和陈翠梅，所以表演上的好与不好，我基本上都很依靠他，而我就专心表演就好。

Interview by Timothy Ong and Jeremy Sing

Man’s universal quest to create often presumes an element of permanence. Nobody conceptualises a building with its eventual collapse in mind. Such is the curse of being mortal: we project our deepest and most unattainable desires onto the material legacies we leave behind.

Not for André Chiang. In 2017, the famed Taiwan-born chef made the call to close down Restaurant André and return its Michelin stars in a decision that stunned the culinary world. It was an announcement preceded by no other, and soon people were scrambling for last-minute reservations before Chiang’s team shut the two-storey shophouse’s blue doors for good.

The decision beggared numerous questions, most contingently: why? Why this and why now? So many people with their noses up against the windows, eyes gleaming at the shelves of accolades many can only dream of, and here this man who has it all—apart from not being “Number 1” yet, that is—is choosing to quietly pack up and walk away.

The events swirling around this decision are captured by Josiah Ng in his new documentary, André and His Olive Tree. Presented in accordance with Chiang’s Octaphilosophy, Ng builds a narrative of Chiang that at once pins the closure decision squarely upon his shoulders, and yet absolves him of the bittersweet aftermath. It’s a success story that upholds traditional notions of success, and yet bucks the ending by leaving it open-ended.

The film opens with the moment Chiang drops the news to his team on October 10, 2017. The date is equally memorable to his wife, Pam, for different reasons. The camera then cuts to a range of reactions: slack-jawed, stoic, teary-eyed. From this moment on, every anecdote, every interview and every decision orbits back to this very announcement. Each directive uttered in the present has the awareness of impending closure pressed into it, like the moment where Chiang urges his service team to press on precisely because they only have so many days left to host returning patrons.

Even when Chiang is captured in the future, post-closure, his actions and expressions are invariably overshadowed by the viewer’s knowledge of the moment he’d discharged the news. He walks free, only because he was once chained. But this is a price Chiang is willing to pay, because his mission for perfection has turned inward. Though a culinary giant seized by an innate, everlasting passion for food, he knows it is the immaterial that will outlive everything else. Not too shabby for someone whose job is to put together things that vanish into bellies in minutes. 

Towards the end, Chiang charges three mentors with his personal growth—amongst them, Singapore, the country he is leaving in search of home. Famously, Singaporean poet Arthur Yap once wrote: “there is no future in nostalgia.” This line rings apropos in a city-state that is always moving, creating, progressing, endangering and demolishing. But the line only spearheads a poem that, eventually, swallows up its own indictment like an ouroboros. In searching for home, Chiang seeks out the future in his past, and finds himself coming full circle.

And yet, even for someone like Chiang who is willing to dismantle with his own hands the institutions that he created, surely there’s an element of permanence to be sought in his legacy? Indeed there is. It’s none other than his olive tree.

Written by Eisabess Chee

"You and I" baru saja menerima penghargaan sebagai film dokumenter berdurasi panjang terbaik di Festival Film Indonesia 2020. Film dokumenter  yang disutradarai oleh Fanny Chotimah ini juga diputar di Singapore International Film Festival dan menjadi film penutup JAFF-Netpac Asian Film Festival 15, bulan lalu. "You and I" juga dianugerahi sebagai film terbaik di kompetisi DMZ International Documentary Film Festival Asia ke-12.

Film ini menceritakan tentang dua wanita mantan tahanan politik 1965 yang hidup bersama sampai akhir hayat. Keduanya, Kusdalini dan Kaminah tidak pernah menikah karena kuatnya stigma sebagai mantan tahanan politik. Mereka juga tidak bisa melanjutkan sekolah dan bekerja. Untuk bertahan hidup mereka membuka warung, menjual soto, melayani katering, dan menghabiskan hari tua bersama dengan berjualan kerupuk.

Kami mempunyai kesempatan singkat untuk mewawancarai Fanny Chotimah di sela-sela kesibukan meriset film terbarunya. 

Apa kabar Fanny? Bagaimana perasaanmu telah menyelesaikan film panjang You and I?

Hehe, perlu pesan kopi dulu nggak ini? Kabar baik bang, kabarmu bagaimana? Perasaanku mix feeling, senang haru campur aduk.

Dari mana ide film ini muncul? Apa yang membuatmu memutuskan untuk membuat film ini?

Ide membuat film ini muncul saat saya mulai intens berkenalan dengan protagonis saya mbah Kaminah dan Kusdalini. Saya jatuh cinta pada persahabatan mereka, juga pembawaan mereka yang hangat. Kisah hidup dan pengalaman mereka sayang sekali jika hanya saya yang mengetahuinya. Karenanya saya memutuskan untuk mendokumentasikan hidup mereka.

Kapan kamu memulai proyek film ini? Dan bagaimana persiapan rencanamu saat itu untuk film ini?

Riset dimulai tahun 2016 lalu lanjut shooting hingga tahun 2018, lalu editing di tahun 2017-2019 meski tahun ketiga tidak begitu intens. Persiapan dimulai dari cerita, saya menulis script dan membuat treatment berdasarkan hasil riset dan observasi. Namun karena dokumenter sangat dinamis, ceritapun berubah seiring proses. Dan juga ada hal-hal yang terjadi di luar kendali saya, karenanya saya harus terbuka untuk menerima perubahan-perubahan tersebut.

Kepada siapa saja pertama kali kamu mengutarakan ide filmmu ini dan bagaimana tanggapan mereka?

Pastinya kepada produser saya karena mereka juga yang mengenalkan saya kepada mbah Kaminah dan Kusdalini. Karena sebelumnya profil mereka sudah dimuat dalam bentuk buku fotografi, produser saya menyambut baik respon lain terhadap karya buku foto sebelumnya. Jadi awalnya dari medium foto lalu beralih ke medium film.

Apakah kamu ingin menyampaikan sesuatu terkait peristiwa 1965 di Indonesia melalui film ini? Atau kamu hanya menjadikan titik tolak linimasa untuk menceritakan hal lain yang lebih intim?

Peristiwa 1965 merupakan latar belakang protagonis saya, dimana keduanya bertemu karena sesama aktivis dan juga ditangkap. Hal yang ingin saya tahu bagaimana mereka bisa bertahan hidup selepas dari penjara lalu memperjuangkan keadilan bagi mereka dengan sesama penyintas lainnya. Keberpihakan saya kepada kemanusiaan, bahwa dihukum tanpa peradilan seperti yang  menimpa mereka mungkin saja terjadi pada kita semua. Relasi persahabatan mereka merupakan kekuatan untuk bertahan hingga titik akhir. Saya mengagumi keteguhan mereka untuk meneruskan ‘risiko perjuangan’.

Apakah kamu merasakan keterhubungan emosi dengan subjek ketika membuat film ini? Bagaimana caramu menjaga jarak, agar tetap bisa menyelesaikan filmmu?

Tentu saja saya dekat secara emosional kepada keduanya, terutama mbah Kaminah. Kami bersahabat. Karena berteman secara otomatis kita tahu bagaimana kita menjaga jarak dan batasan yang diperlukan. Di mana protagonis saya merasa nyaman atau tidak.

Apa yang kamu harapkan dari film ini ketika ditonton oleh khalayak? Apa rencanamu selanjutnya setelah film ini selesai?

Harapanku bisa menumbuhkan rasa empati di kalangan penonton terhadap para penyintas ini. Sehingga kita tidak mudah memberikan stigma kepada mereka. Rencanaku tentunya ingin diputar lebih luas lagi ya, sehingga bisa diakses oleh semua kalangan masyarakat.

Apa kesalahan yang kamu sadari dan apa kekurangan yang kamu rasakan (tentu saja ingin kamu perbaiki) setelah film ini selesai dan ditayang untuk publik?

Saya menyadari ada banyak kesalahan ataupun keputusan saya yang keliru misalnya. Ada momen yang saya lewatkan atau karena ketidaksiapan secara teknis meski terekam tapi tidak bisa digunakan. Namun film ini sudah selesai dengan segala kelebihan dan kekurangannya. Saya harus move on hehe..

Apakah kamu punya next project yang bisa ditunggu? Hehe

Ada dong, tapi masih dalam tahap riset. Saya belum bisa cerita lebih detailnya ditunggu saja ya.

The first lines of dialogue uttered in the film come after a prolonged scene of Ghislain wandering through a forest. As he enters a door frame, off screen we hear Vu say “Could you walk away?”. Intentionally we see the subjectivity of the previous images shattered and become aware of the performative aspect of the film, that what we are seeing has been heavily staged and manicured by Vu whose presence becomes tangible throughout. As the film transitions into Ghislain’s home, the camera movement switches from fixed static shots to a first person perspective. We can hear Vu’s footsteps and breathing as he follows Ghislain, and as the camera careens on miscellaneous spaces, such as a haphazard supply closet, Vu and his personal fixations and directorial presence continue to sharpen and take precedence as much as the film’s focus on Ghislain. 

Vu’s camera places a priority on capturing the slow, mundane moments in Ghislain’s life as a single man: with shots of Ghislain chopping up multiple onions while being asked questions pertaining to his love life. In placing so much focus on the act of cooking, Vu unearthes a sense of melancholy in it, with food being a conduit for fellowship between loved ones and cooking an act of affection itself. Yet Ghislain only cooks for himself, and despite Vu’s presence he still remains off-screen, somewhat feeling like a non-entity, something he reinforces in a later shot taken from afar of Ghislain eating alone. 

It must be noted how digital the film feels, starting with shots of trees that feel incredibly sharp in high definition, mirroring a common feeling associated with digital filmmaking, an implicit eeriness in how simultaneously lifelike and unreal the images feel, befitting for a film like this. Another intentional choice comes in colour grading as Vu decides to throw on a, at times garish, yellow and red tint to the film, making you consistently aware that you are always viewing an image tampered by an outside force, dictated under Vu’s vision. Digital filmmaking also serves as an aesthetic tool as Vu captures Ghislain cooking with a ghosting effect applied, his figure seemingly overlapping within itself, emphasising his isolation as Ghislain goes on a tangent about his lack of motivation without a boyfriend. 

The feeling of directorial control Vu exerts over the film reaches its apex in a scene where he directly dictates Ghislain’s actions, telling him to imagine if he had someone to love and if someone loved him, telling him to enjoy the affection he has with them, a bittersweet moment for Ghislain as he simmers, eyes closed, with his internal thoughts. Yet something extraordinary happens in the next shot, as if Ghislain’s thoughts are being externalised we see Vu himself finally make a physical appearance, gently stroking Ghislain’s head as he lies on him for a whole 3 minutes. The previously established boundaries between Vu and Ghislain, as director and subject, are finally dismantled as it feels like Vu’s immense compassion for his subject grows to break through the rigid structure of the hands off approach he created for himself. The length of time devoted to this shot corresponds to the growing concern Vu has for Ghislain that builds throughout the film, finally extending the titular “Act of Affection”. In a sense the constant questioning of what is genuine and what is not in Vu’s film becomes superseded by the heartfelt tenderness of this display. 

However, in viewing the film through the lens of its digital format, it becomes clear that the “Act of Affection” is not simply physical touch but the act of filmmaking in of itself. With the proliferation of digital technology in the 21st century and its increasing accessibility to the masses, image-making has become democratised, with more and more people being given the opportunity to preserve their memories and the images of their loved ones. Vu effectively creates a touching display of how affection has evolved, not just through physical action but through digital preservation, in giving a single man, who would otherwise be unremarked upon, the intangible gift of permanence through film.

Review by Matthew Chan